In Paris, young Finnish researcher Pauliina Damdimopoulou used to always wear perfume. There, it was part of everyday life—a small spray on the neck each day, just like her colleagues did. She says she would no longer even consider doing so.
Female fertility is declining in Western countries. One possible reason is environmental chemicals. At the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Damdimopoulou studies what these chemicals do inside the female body. She now knows that perfume does not stay only on the skin.
Born in Taivassalo and educated in Turku, Pauliina Damdimopoulou leads her own laboratory at the Karolinska Institutet. She moves her finger across a presentation slide filled with colorful spheres of different sizes. Even the title is chilling: Human oocytes mature in a toxic chemical soup. Each sphere represents a chemical. The size of the sphere indicates how large a proportion of studied women have been found to contain that substance.
PFAS compounds, the so-called “forever chemicals,” have been found in the majority of women. They repel water, dirt, and grease. That is why they are everywhere in our daily lives: in frying pans, outdoor clothing, and floor waxes. However, most exposure comes from food. The problem is that they degrade extremely slowly, so they accumulate in the human body.
The diagrams also show substances whose names appear repeatedly on cosmetic packaging. And then there is one that still stops you: the infamous pesticide DDT. It has been measured in women’s ovaries, even though it was banned in Sweden in the 1970s. The women studied had not even been born at that time.
Damdimopoulou’s team has been able to measure chemicals directly from women’s ovaries. Normally, they are measured in urine and blood samples. Plasticizers, coatings, preservatives. There are numerous foreign chemicals in women’s eggs and ovaries. It is a striking thought. Perhaps even more striking is how early they get there.
Exposure does not begin after birth or even during fetal development, but already before fertilization. During pregnancy, chemicals pass from the mother’s body through the placenta. After that, exposure continues as a baby, child, and adult—throughout life.
“My grandparents still lived in a relatively clean world in terms of industrial chemicals. But my parents were born in the 1950s, when chemicals were already widespread. I probably was exposed even as an egg cell, and I have passed chemicals on to my own children.”
Because humans are a long-lived species, chemicals can accumulate in the body over years and decades. The most persistent ones outlive even us. That is why DDT, a poison banned over 50 years ago, can still be found in ovaries and eggs.
At the same time, new chemicals are continuously introduced to the market. All of this may contribute to reduced fertility.
In Damdimopoulou’s laboratory biobank, there are hundreds of donated ovarian samples. It is impossible to trace the journey of a single chemical molecule to the ovaries—whether it came from plastic, food, perfume, or car ventilation.
However, researchers did find patterns. The same women whose ovaries were analyzed also filled out lifestyle questionnaires. These included questions about vacuuming, since household dust binds chemical particles.
PFAS compounds were most commonly found in women who ate a lot of white fish and eggs, but also in women who used weatherproof-treated clothing. Phthalates were especially found in women who used perfume. The connection was so strong that even the researchers were surprised.
Damdimopoulou recalled her years in Paris. She no longer uses perfume, scented laundry detergent, Teflon pans, or plastic containers. She has also forbidden her children from ordering anything from Chinese online marketplaces like Temu.
She wishes everyone would understand this: the fact that something is sold in a store does not guarantee it is safe—even in the EU.
She is troubled by how much responsibility is placed on women: they are expected to cook organic food, avoid cosmetics, and constantly clean the home.
“Politicians in the EU have promised us a chemically safe society by 2050. That will not be achieved by telling women how to live their lives.”
For consumers, it is impossible to know in the store which detergent or deodorant is safer. “The fundamental problem is that chemicals have been allowed onto the market without being properly tested.”
That is why it is justified to be angry. “People should be angry. ‘Don’t feel anxious—get angry.’”
When Damdimopoulou’s research group receives important funding or publishes in a high-impact journal, they celebrate with sparkling wine. Empty bottles in the office remind them of achievements. There are also boxing gloves in her workspace.
After the wars, the chemical industry promised a better life. Plastics and synthetic materials were rapidly developed, and a huge number of new substances entered daily life. Only later did it become clear that not all of their effects on humans had been properly understood.
One warning came in the 1950s, when the sleeping drug thalidomide caused tens of thousands of children to be born with severe disabilities or die. The danger was easy to recognize when babies were born without limbs. Most chemical harms, however, are not so dramatic but rather subtle and difficult to prove.
This is especially challenging in something as complex as female fertility. Chemicals may have long-term effects because all of a woman’s egg cells are formed during fetal development, and no new ones are produced later.
And sensitivity does not end there: after birth, the maturation of a single egg cell takes about a year.
Face masks, makeup, and fragrances are even marketed to children. “That is completely irresponsible.”
Therefore, Damdimopoulou would like chemical awareness to be included in schools. The exact effects of chemicals are not yet fully known, but some links have been identified: persistent environmental toxins in ovaries are associated with lower egg count, phthalates with disrupted follicle growth, and PFAS with poorer embryo quality.
In larger studies, environmental chemicals have been associated with early puberty, menstrual disorders, reduced egg quality, infertility, and early menopause.
In ten years, she hopes above all that research evidence will be reflected in policy, and that European chemical regulation will have been updated.
“It would be wonderful if Europe were a pioneer in how to make chemicals that are not toxic,” she says.
We contain plasticizers, coatings, and preservatives before we even contain the genes of both our parents. Damdimopoulou herself may carry chemicals inherited from her mother, which she has passed on to her own children.
Vessi’s comment:
EDCs and their properties and harms have been studied since the 1990s. Their harmful effects are amplified in combination, where extremely small amounts can be enough to cause damage. Fertility, romance, sex, number of children, sperm quality, testosterone levels and fertility have declined, and many diseases are more common due to EDCs, including cancers and hormone-related disorders. Obesity epidemics are also partly related.
Unfortunately, very little has been done to prevent the problem. Read Professor Shanna Swan’s book “Countdown” to be better informed. With strict lifestyle choices, exposure can be reduced by at least 95%. It is unclear whether even that is enough to achieve a healthy population. Legislation and its implementation are still at a very basic level.
